The Voice Of Castro

Cuban Diplomats In Washington Struggle To Cope With U.s. Disdain

WASHINGTON — A photograph of Fidel Castro, smiling pleasantly and holding his cigar in a jaunty pose, beams down on visitors to the Cuban Interests Section in Washington.

In this isolated compound about 2 miles from the White House, Castro's 1959 revolution lives on. Behind the high steel gates are Castro's lobbyists, his diplomats, his interlocutors. Strangers in an alien land, they get across his message as best they can in their adversary's capital.

The Cuban government has not had a full-fledged embassy in Washington since diplomatic relations were severed in 1961, but it speaks through this mysterious Interests Section. Denunciations and denials once dominated what little dialogue occurred between Cuban diplomats and U.S. officials. They still don't talk much. But the tone has mellowed.

The public voice of the Interests Section belongs to its first secretary, Jose Ponce, an engaging young diplomat with an amiable demeanor. It is Ponce, 42, not section chief Alfonso Fraga, who is seen and heard most often by the U.S. media and public.

What is it like to live and work surrounded by people who disdain and sometimes vilify the government you represent?

"It's tough," Ponce says, easing back in an armchair under his president's picture. "Sometimes it is difficult to make people who have a prejudice, a preconception of what Cuba is like, see things in a different way. It is hard to change that mentality.

"At times, we have been able to talk to some of the congressmen. Others don't want to talk to us. We wish we could talk to people at the White House, but our relations are mainly with the State Department, mainly with the Cuba Desk. It's difficult for us to get higher than that. That's a pity."

Castro's 10 diplomats and support staff work out of a grand building that housed Cuba's embassy before the revolution. Its ornate central staircase, sculpted marble pillars, broad mirrors and towering ceilings exude old-style Washingtonia. One can sense the ghosts of glittering diplomatic receptions in corridors now nearly silent and empty except for the pacing of a security officer.

The actual work is sealed away behind closed doors. Visitors rarely penetrate the second or third floors.

Like diplomats of other countries, Ponce and his fellow Cubans live wherever they can find housing in the Washington area. Ponce says some of his neighbors turn away from him, while others are more friendly.

"In my home, in Havana, life is more familiar," Ponce says. "You have a large extended family. Here it's just your wife and children, and we pull more into ourselves. You get homesick.

"But we have a number of American friends with open minds and hearts, and warm exchanges."

Relations warming up?

Ponce and other observers see signs of a thaw in the icy relationship between the United States and Cuba. The Interests Section was heartened earlier this year when the State Department warned Americans against smuggling arms into Cuba or smuggling people out.

The Cuban government, meanwhile, has introduced limited economic reforms and plans to cut its armed forces by one-third, according to a group of former Pentagon officials who visited the island in August. The retired officers concluded that Cuba is no longer a military threat to the United States and that the two countries should improve their relations.

On the other hand, President Clinton followed through with his campaign pledge to sign the Cuban Democracy Act, which tightens the trade embargo around Cuba.

Yet even this anti-Castro act established closer ties between the two countries. It allows humanitarian aid to flow into Cuba and permits telephone service linking the two countries. In July, the State Department issued guidelines for a phone hookup.

"We are not expecting any dramatic change in relations with the U.S.," Ponce says. "We are certainly not expecting the embargo around Cuba to be lifted soon, and it might not be lifted at all. In that sense, the situation will remain the same. But we can work out things in a more relaxed environment."

If relations improve in any way-such as an increase in humanitarian aid or removal of the ban on direct travel to Cuba-the Interests Section could serve as a communications link and dispenser of tourist visas. Meanwhile, the diplomats try to gauge and shape U.S. opinion.

Swiss Embassy a liaison

Lacking formal diplomatic relations with the United States, the Cubans must deliver their message under the auspices of the Swiss Embassy.

Interests Sections in Havana and Washington were set up in 1977 during the Carter administration with the idea that the adversaries should talk. The discussion turned especially sour during the Reagan and Bush administrations, heavily influenced by fiercely anti-Castro Cuban-Americans from south Florida.

More moderate voices from the Cuban-American community are now being heard, though even they tend to oppose closer dealings with the Castro government.

"No self-respecting human-rights group believes we should have normal relations with the Cuban government," said Kristina Arriaga, director of the Valladares Foundation, a Cuban-American human-rights group that has been critical of more strident Castro-bashers.

"Castro is not opening the door," Arriaga said. "He's putting on a big show, and direct dialogue would be an enabler for us to be duped."

Nevertheless, while most Cuban-Americans await what they foresee as the imminent collapse of the Cuban government, Castro's lobbyists in Washington are settling down with some relief to what they consider a less hostile political climate.

"During the Bush administration, we were used to having to listen every day to some very nasty things," Ponce said. "Now there is less hostility to Cubans, that much can be said. The rhetoric is less hostile. But the dialogue between the two countries can never be completely healthy until we sit down and talk as close neighbors."